Tailpiece guard is stuck.

[Blip]

Hello. I play a Ibanez M501BS mandolin. Now, I have a big issue with it. The tailpiece guard is stuck. I can't remove it no matter how hard I try to slide it off. It just wont move.

This is causing the major issue of not being able to change strings.

Any help?


EDIT: I found the issue. One side of it was probably bent during the process of making it. Managed to remove it using a screwdriver. Gonna leave it half on so I can remove it later. It looks weird now, since I bent the top of it further in attempt to get it off.

Also, the guard was causing my string buzz. Now when the guard is only half way on, the string buzz is gone :D

I have no idea how to remove topics, so I'll just let it stay here.

[Ray(T)]

If its the standard "Gibson type" slide on/off cover, they are meant to be bendable so you can ensure a snug but removable fit. All you need is a pair of pliers and patience. My bet would be that the one you were trying to take off hasn't been touched for some time and corroded on.
Ray

[woodwizard]

Those Gibson TP's can be buggers at times. I had one on a brand new A5L once that was so hard to get on and off. The solution was as mentioned above ... they can be carefully reshaped to make them easier to slide on and off. Another good try to remove it without prying it up and off with a screw driver is to lay the mando on the bed with the tail or rear of the mando toward you.
While sitting in a chair take your polish towel and wrap it over the edges of the tail piece to protect your fingers. Place your thumbs on the back side for leverage and press like h%@@! on it.
That usually works for me on tight TP's. Then you can inspect to see what you need to do. Shaping , cleaning corrosion etc. Good luck

[MikeEdgerton]

I've never had one that wouldn't slide backwards if I put a penny on my finger as a shield and pulled it back towards me. You don't have to pry them off.

[sunburst]

I've never had one that wouldn't slide backwards if I put a penny on my finger as a shield and pulled it back towards me. You don't have to pry them off.

Really? I've run across those things that wouldn't budge until something broke!
I'll not go into my opinion of the design of that type of tailpiece and what alternatives are available, but suffice it to say that you don't have to put up with a tailpiece with a recalcitrant cover with the replacements that are available these days.

[MikeEdgerton]

I've seen dozens, haven't had one that I couldn't get to move eventually with a penny, maybe a dime or quarter. Some were tough but they all slid.

[mandroid]

A tight fit , at least won't rattle, like an easy off one might.

a Buzz cure is a piece of leather under the strings, and a thin piece of felt inside the cover.
:whistling:

[sunburst]

Well Mike, go into the repair business and I bet it won't be long before you find one that will hurt you or something else before it turns loose. If it comes down to it, I'll pry it off before I'll hurt myself.

[MikeEdgerton]

So would I. I've just never found one that I couldn't move using the penny trick.

[Rob Gerety]

Explain the penny trick----????

[Tim2723]

I did the old penny trick once. When the cover let go the mandolin skittered across the floor.

[Mattg]

Also, the guard was causing my string buzz. Now when the guard is only half way on, the string buzz is gone :D

You should put a strip of felt or thin leather between the cover and the strings if you decide to snap the guard back into place. That'll fix the buzz

[jerrymartin]

I once had the opposite problem - the tailpiece on a wonderful Flatiron F kept popping off at random intervals. I brought it to a repair person, but that was like sending a steak back twice for being too rare: now the thing simply. won't. budge. It's "fixed", all right.

Argh! :mad:~o)

Jerry M.

[mandroid]

The Penny spreads out the force applied with your thumb to the edge of the tailpiece cover,
required to get it to slide off, Rob.
Larger surface for your thumb to press against, than the edge itself , could be other things than a penny,
but that is what goes in the tip jar. :confused:

[allenhopkins]

Concur a bit with John's evaluation of the "traditional" sliding-cover tailpiece design. What's the real use of the cover, except to display a logo? It does look a bit neater that a display of loops and prongs, but the only time we seem to discuss it, is when it won't come off. Or, when it comes off, gets lost, and needs to be replaced -- at considerable expense, if it's a "vintage" instrument.

Like so much of the early-20th-century Gibson designs (scroll and points, anyone?), it gets carried a century into the future, not because of its utility, but because of its association with the legendary Golden Age of mandolin luthiery, when Orville and Lloyd descended Mt. Kalamazoo with the inscribed tablets decreeing that all future quality mandolins would look a certain way.

The tailpieces on my Eastman mandolin and mandola don't have covers; they seem functional, even modestly decorative. But of course, they're products of the Inscrutable East, so who knows...?

[Michael Lewis]

The stiffest ones I have run across were the Pac rim import ones made of rather heavy stamped steel and chrome plated. Some of those can and will hurt you if you are not careful.

[Rob Gerety]

Thanks Droid.